Tips, tutorials, and commentary on pedagogy, productivity, and technology in higher education.

Tag Archives: grading

The Magic Pencil, Or Tools of the Trade

February 23, 2010 in Pedagogy, Productivity by Erin E. Templeton
One of my favorite scenes in Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone book occurs in Ollivander’s wand shop when Harry learns about the wizards’ most powerful tool: their wand.  Ollivander explains that each wand is unique, and that a wizard will never achieve ideal outcomes when using another wizard’s wand.  As Harry tries wand after wand, [...]

Update on Rubrick: The Mozilla Jetpack for Online Grading

February 2, 2010 in Pedagogy by Jason B. Jones

A status report on Rubrick, the browser extension being built by some ProfHacker contributors and readers as part of the Mozilla Jetpack Design for Learning Challenge.

Paperless Grading with GradeMark

January 6, 2010 in Pedagogy by Natalie Houston

Grading. Who wants to think about grading papers now, at the beginning of January, when the bitter end of last term might not have entirely faded from your memory? Yet the best time to consider changing the format or requirements for student work is now, before assignments are due. In this post, I'm going to discuss using Turnitin.com for receiving student work and its grading component, GradeMark, for digital grading.

Update on Rubrick

December 7, 2009 in Pedagogy by Jason B. Jones

Last week, we introduced Rubrick, ProfHacker's entry in the Mozilla Jetpack Design for Learning Challenge. Here are some other interesting projects.

Assessing online assignments in the browser: Introducing Rubrick

November 30, 2009 in Pedagogy by Jason B. Jones

Introducing Rubrick, a proposed Mozilla Jetpack extension for grading online work directly in the browser.

Grading Triage

November 30, 2009 in Pedagogy by Jason B. Jones

Good news: The semester's almost over! But wait: That means all that grading's got to be done somehow . . .

Join the discussion: “Grading 2.0: Evaluation in the Digital Age” on HASTAC.org

November 17, 2009 in Pedagogy by Prof. Hacker
[Editor's Note: This is a guest post by John Jones (no relation!), who is an assistant instructor at UT-Austin and one of the hosts of the HASTAC Forum on Grading 2.0. -- JBJ] One of the primary goals of teaching is to prepare students for life outside the classroom, either by providing them with job-specific skills [...]

Developing Policies for Late Assignments

October 22, 2009 in Pedagogy by Nels P. Highberg

Faculty need to be able to articulate why they have enacted the policies they have, and policies and pedagogies should align clearly. How do you handle late assignments in your classes, and how do those policies support your teaching goals?

The Value of 24 Hours in Passing Back Graded Work

October 9, 2009 in Pedagogy by Jeff McClurken

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received as a new teacher was from a senior colleague who listened to me express anxiety about handing back graded papers to my class. She looked at me and said, "Why don't you just deploy the '24-hour rule'?" I looked at her blankly and she explained that she told her students that it was her policy not to discuss their papers/tests/projects with them until 24 hours after they had received them. She insisted it significantly reduced the number of concerned students following her back to her office wanting an explanation for this or that part of their grade.

Grade Keeping Programs

October 5, 2009 in Productivity, Products by Billie Hara

One of the hardest things about teaching is the evaluation of student work. The next hardest thing about teaching is keeping track of students' grades. Educators today have many effective ways to track student progress. Some professors use the the old skool method of keeping a gradebook (or a piece of paper) that lists students' grades. Other educators use Excel spreadsheets to keep track of students and their grades. The technologically savvy instructors use course management systems (CMS), WebCT, Blackboard, or eCollege, as they have built-in grade keeping programs that link assignments with grades (percentages or points).

Is it too early to think about grading?

August 25, 2009 in Pedagogy by Jason B. Jones
Especially if your semester hasn’t started yet, it probably seems a bit early to think about grading.  But spending a little time now setting up the broad parameters of your papers or projects can pay off dramatically during the semester, when you’re too busy and tired to think straight. I like to use rubrics when grading.  [...]

Grading Differently

August 11, 2009 in Pedagogy by Brian Croxall
I wanted to draw attention to some of the comments in Jason’s post on incorporating learning goals into one’s syllabus. Bill Wolff writes briefly about his experience using the Learning Record, a system for evaluating students’ development over a long period of time (i.e., a semester). John Jones then provided a link to video of a [...]